South Africa’s innings

South Africa won the toss and chose to bat first, but the decision didn’t turn out well for the Proteas as the pitch of Eden Gardens, Kolkata behaved in an unpredictable pattern for the batters. As the dangerous Australian pacers Mitchell Strac and Josh Hazlewood got that extra bounce with the new ball, South Africa lost its top order in the first powerplay. At one point the score was 24/4 and things were looking terrible for the Proteas, but then Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller formed a partnership to provide some stability to their team.

Rains interrupted the game for a while, but Klaasen and Miller played well until Australian skipper Pat Cummins introduced Travis Head as their sixth bowler who clinched Heinrich Klaasen and Marco Jansen’s wicket in his first over. The South African innings was struggling again but David Miller kept playing his game from one end.

Gerald Coetzee supported David Miller well for a while but then Pat Cummins took him out and Keshav Maharaj came on the crease, only to get dismissed soon while playing a bad shot. David Miller slammed his first World Cup century but Pat Cummins took him out soon after. Kagiso Rabada and Tabraiz Shamshi couldn’t play for long and the South African innings was over with the score of 212 runs.

Australia’s innings

Chasing a low target of 213 runs, Australia started on a great note with Travis Head and David Warner beginning with a 60-run opening partnership. Spinner Aiden Markram provided the Proteas with the first breakthrough as he dismissed dangerous opener David Warner. Mitchell Marsh went back to pavilion on duck as pacer Kagiso Rabada took him out. 

Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith played a good partnership for a while, but soon Labuschagne was also dismissed and Proteas were looking somewhere in the game now. The chances increased as the wonderful spinner Tabraiz Shamshi dismissed explosive batter Glenn Maxwell. Australia was playing very cautiously now as they knew that the target is small and they can win comfortably with singles and doubles. 

South African bowlers desperately chased wicket at this point as they knew that dismissing Australian batters is their only hope. Steve Smith was slowly playing from one end and wanted to finish for his team before pacer Gerald Coetzee dismissed the experienced batter. 

Josh Inglis and Mitchell Strac had a clear role to save their wickets and take their team to victory with singles and doubles. But, Gerald Coetzee striked again as he dismissed Josh Inglis. Pat Cummins came on the strike and had some close calls but finally took his team to victory by 3 wickets. 

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Updated: 16 Nov 2023, 10:17 PM IST